The present invention relates to the field of clock making.
A watch, regardless of its type (clock, pendulum clock, bracelet watch, alarm clock . . . ) usually includes a main dial including hour marks, generally 12 hour marks, as well as marks corresponding to minutes, generally 12 marks each spaced out by 5 minutes.
Two concentric needles, generally the foreground needle for minutes and the background needle for hours, run along this dial so that the hour and the minutes may be read by estimating the position of each of these needles with respect to the marks of a fixed dial.
European Patent EP209335 describing a clock mechanism driving the hour needle into a motion of 30xc2x0 per hour and the minutes needle into a rotation of 360xc2x0 per hour, is known.
In the state of the art, French Patent FR368617 describing a clock dial wherein the hour needle is fixed to a central disc which bears divisions indicating the minutes and which revolves with it, is also known. At each whole hour, both needles are then in the same direction and mark the same hour on a crown encircling the central disc.
In these documents of the nearest prior art, the indicators consist of fine and linear needles, the hour needle bearing the dial for reading the minutes.
Such watches of the prior art involve a risk of confusion as their reading seems identical to that of a watch with traditional needles, whereas the indication is radically different.
The object of the present invention is to provide a new clock mechanism, producing new visual effects and providing a new method for reading the time, without any risk of confusion with traditional watches. The object of the invention is to retain the surprising aspect of watches complying with the state of the art as discussed by Patent FR368617, while however finding a remedy to the technical disadvantages resulting from the visual closeness of the needle-shaped indicators to the usual needles of a watch.
For the, purpose the invention is directed to a watch including two indicators, producing a pattern formed by both indicators which is either additive (if for example, they are of the same color), or subtractive (if the indicator which is in the foreground has the same color as the background), or combinatory if there are more than three colors.
For this purpose, the invention relates in its most general acceptance, to a watch including a motor driving a first rotary hour indicator into rotation at a velocity of 1/N revolutions per hour, and a second rotary minute indicator driven by a concentric axis, characterized in that the minute indicator is driven at a velocity of (N+1)/N revolutions per hour and in that the indicators each have a shape producing a global surface with a variable shape, by covering or juxtaposing the shapes of both needles.
Such a realization enables visual effects from variable juxtaposition, superposition and covering of a surface to be produced so that it may be read free from any ambiguity and very succinctly as the exact time may be perceived intuitively in a glance, without having to break down the reading process out into two steps, one for perceiving the hour, the other for perceiving the fractions of an hour.
According to a first alternative embodiment, N is equal to 12.
According to a second alternative embodiment, N is equal to 24.
According to a first embodiment, reading the indications is accomplished by estimating the angular difference between both indicators.
With an alternative embodiment the indications may be read through generated geometrical conformations according to the relative position of the indicators and allowed by the shape of these indicators.
Preferably, a rotary indicator drives a mark for reading indications of the second rotary indicator. These marks are positioned in order to facilitate reading. In a particular embodiment, the mark for reading the indications of the second rotary indicator is formed by a concentric dial with both indicators, secured to the first hour indicator.
Advantageously, said concentric dial has marks spaced out by 360/k degrees, wherein k is an integer.
According to an alternative, the marks allow the indications to be read by means of their pattern or color configurations.
According to another embodiment, the hour indicator is formed by a plane element secured to the driving axis in a substantially peripheral point, and extending along a main radio axis substantially up to the edge of the main dial of the watch, and in that the minute indicator is formed by a second plane element secured to the driving axis at a substantially peripheral point, extending along a main radial axis substantially up to the edge of the main dial of the watch and placed in the foreground.
Preferably, both plane elements consist of discs.
Advantageously, both discs have a radius substantially equal to half the radius of the main dial of the watch.
According to an alternative, the minute indicator disc revolves in the reverse direction with respect to the hour indicator disc. In this case, the time course of the visible quarters complies with the moon""s phases.
According to an alternative, a third second rotary indicator is driven by the same motor. This indicator is driven at the velocity of 1+(N+1)/(60*N) revolutions per minute.
According to a first alternative, the minute and hour indicators are indicators having the same color in order to form an additive variable covering or juxtaposition surface.
According to a second alternative, the indicator which is in the foreground has the same color as the background of the dial in order to form a subtractive variable covering or juxtaposition surface.
According to a third alternative, the minute indicator and the background have three differentiated colors in order to form a combinatory covering or juxtaposition surface.
According to a particular embodiment, the watch has an annular peripheral ring bearing time markings, wherein said ring is rotatively mobile in order to provide angular displacement depending on the time zone.
In the same way as for the hour indicator/minute indicator pair, one skilled in the art may adapt the types of aforementioned marks to the minute indicator/second indicator pair.